Stop talking about conservation. We need restoration and rehabilitation.

As soon as I published it, I began second guessing the title. (And it looks like at least one commenter is calling me out on it!) What I was really getting at is that it wouldn't take that much (if we all committed to it) to reach a tipping point where clean energy becomes more economical than dirty energy. We have a very real opportunity to transform how we generate energy and transport goods and people within the next couple of decades.

But reaching that tipping point will only be the beginning in the fight against climate change and ecological destruction.

Yes, preserving existing ecosystems is a crucial and valuable cause, but just as funding clean energy and energy efficiency is a starting point for necessary change, so too "conservation" needs to be a gateway to something much, much bigger: restoration and rehabilitation. Not only is this necessary given the destruction we have wrought, it's also, perhaps counterintuitively, much easier to get people on board, at least with the concept.

But there is also an increasing number of people the world over who are facing the very real, devastating consequences of business as usual. As these people look for solutions, it's not going to be enough—nor is it particularly interesting—to talk about "limiting the damage".